The origin and influence of the thoroughbred horse . whilst on the other hand the eyesof the famous bronze horses from St Marks at Venice lie deepin their sockets, and are overshadowed by rather strongly markedbrows. The mane in the Tarentine fragment is cut short, butis not so stiff as is usual with Attic horses, and it falls morefreely, hanging in a double forelock over the forehead, as is alsothe case in several slabs of the Parthenon. If we compare theTarentine head with that of one of the colossal horses from theMausoleum (p. 305) and with that of a horse from the Amazonfrieze of the^ sam
The origin and influence of the thoroughbred horse . whilst on the other hand the eyesof the famous bronze horses from St Marks at Venice lie deepin their sockets, and are overshadowed by rather strongly markedbrows. The mane in the Tarentine fragment is cut short, butis not so stiff as is usual with Attic horses, and it falls morefreely, hanging in a double forelock over the forehead, as is alsothe case in several slabs of the Parthenon. If we compare theTarentine head with that of one of the colossal horses from theMausoleum (p. 305) and with that of a horse from the Amazonfrieze of the^ same monument, we at once see that the idealTarentine horse in the second half of the fourth century 1 A. D. Michaelis, Jour. Hell. Stud., Vol. in. (1882), pp. 234-9, PI. xxiv. Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 281 was a far better bred animal than the ideal Asiatic horse of thesame period. The Tarentine fragment is held to have beenpart of a chariot group, but there is no reason why it may nothave been part of a monument erected over a favourite horse, as. Fio. 7j. Fresco showing a Samnite warrior: Paestum. was the fashion at Agrigentum (p. 276), or it may have formedpart of a dedication, such as a group of horses and captivewomen—the work of Agelaidas of Argos—dedicated at a muchearlier period by the Tarentines to celebrate their victory overtheir inveterate foes the Messapians. 282 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. We are fortunately not without good evidence for thecolour of the best horses of Southern Italy in the fifth cen-tury , and by implication also of those of Sicily. A frescofrom Paestum now preserved in the Naples Museum ^ shows aSamnite warrior on horseback (Fig. 79). The horse is bay withwhite stockings. As the painter would take for his modelthe most typical war-horse of his own time and country, it isclear that the best horses of Southern Italy at that date weregood cross-bred horses full of Libyan blood, as we had alreadyinferred from the marble horses head from
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